Tow-Tow Monster

The second time around is such fun.  HECTIC.  But fun.

Here's the reason why...

You forget how many 'firsts' there are, and then when you see one you get to marvel at how amazing your little one is... then remember the time that the oldest did that very same thing... then remember how time goes by so fast... and so you marvel again at how wonderfully talented your little one is!

So, here are a few big firsts...

A few days before New Years Cohen had his first (not gas) smile.  And he's been smiling ever since.

 Here are just a few of those many smiles!

 We had our first of many, sleeping 6 hours straight during the night on the 26th of January.

Because we were so happy to finally get some good sleep, Cohen started laughing on the 30th of January. (Not yet caught on video.)

These next few things are not firsts, they are just my cute Tow Man!

Looking at himself in the mirror.

Talking.

Standing and getting his exercise.

Holding on to things and eating them!

        

Holding up his head.

These last few tidbits I cannot call cute, but they are worth writing about.

Our Tow Tow is a tooter.  You read it right, he is full of gas.  He reminds me of Pumbaa (from the Lion King) his toots are so loud and grown-up sounding, many times it startles me.   

We are so lucky to have a hot tub that we can go swimming in, in the middle of winter.  So here is a picture of Cohen going swimming for the first time.  He LOVED it!

But I think it is because he loves water... even his tubbies are fun!

We also had a free session with the hospital photographers and we got a few cute pictures.  I also made sure we got a few of Cohen in his blessing outfit that his Great Grandma Levie gave him.

Cohen was blessed on January 16th by his Daddy.  Tim gave him a beautiful blessing!  We spent the rest of the day with our family who came from all over to support us and be there for Cohen's special day.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family!  

And no post would be complete without recording the latest stats from his 2 month appointment.

Height: 24.5 92%

Weight: 13 lbs 13 oz 90%

Head: 41 cm 73%

And a few more cute pictures!

My Baby The Big Boy

Arlo is and will always be my baby.  Even though he says he is a big boy, does so many big boy things and even looks like a big boy... he is still my baby.

And here is 5 reasons why...

1.  He talks like a big boy... He loves to count (he can't do it all by himself yet but loves to repeat, or say the next number), He loves to tell the color of things (his favorites are green and blue) even though he gets mixed up every once in a while.  He is also starting to form sentences.  His first sentence he said a week or so ago and it was "Arlo's turn!" but since then he has been putting words together left and right.  He is a talking machine.

So in this video I tried to get in as much as he would let me in a very short period...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-K8uh1Tzyw

But he still loves me to sing to him at night... like my baby!
Right now his favorite songs to sing are The Ants Go Marching, I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas, If You're Happy and You Know It, The Eensy Weensy Spider and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.


2.  He sleeps in a big boy bed.  He has also learned that he can get out of that big boy bed and play until mommy or daddy catch him and make him go back to bed.

This is when he should be sleeping, I walked in and he hurried and laid down but all his toys were still on his bed... so we picked up and tried again.

 

This is my big boy when right when he woke up, he always wakes up so happy. 

But he still loves to snuggle with me like my baby.



3.  Arlo will watch whole entire movies like a big boy.  Right now his favorites are Nemo, Bolt, The Little Mermaid, How to Train Your Dragon and Elmo (Especially Elmo goes poop, which is really called Elmo Uses the Potty.)

(It always helps if his cousin sits and watches with him.)

But he still loves to hold my hand!



4.  He plays like a big boy.

Arlo is the biggest dare devil... in the world!  If you do not watch close enough he will climb on top of anything and everything and even worse likes to run around, jump or dance on top of whatever he has just climbed on... I have to keep a very close eye on him!

But he still likes to play naked like a baby?!

There is no good explanation... I just hate the fight to put on clothes, so he goes naked! 

5.  He even looks like a big boy with his new haircut!

But he still looks like my baby when he whines!

(And this is not even the worst of it!)

So even though he is growing up, as you already know, he will always be my baby!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Okay... I went a whole month without blogging... I was dying!  The truth is I love to blog, it is such a fun way to brag! :-)  So the next few days (maybe a week depending on my boys) I will try and catch up.  Because January was a BUSY month!

I am going to start with our New Years trip to Utah. 

When we first got to Utah (we flew up as a family this time and it was wonderful, I will never drive again!) The weather is what you would expect in Utah for being the end of December.  It was cold, everything looked dead and ugly and the snow was melting and brown.  Then, while we were there they had a HUGE storm.  It was cold and miserable... but Arlo loved it.  Here is a video of him playing(stomping) in the snow saying snow over, and over again.

Sorry about being sideways, I do not know how to fix that.

AND

Sorry about my voice, this is when I finally started getting it back, it was gone for a few weeks.

He also had a blast going sledding.  We went with Arlo's 2 cousins Katie and Brinton... It was so cold!

He was so cute all bundled up!

Dad and Arlo were buds... Mom was keeping Cohen warm.

Katie... yes she is always this beautiful.

It's go time!

Katie and Brinton.

It was hard for me to get their faces because I would have had to walk down the snowy hill with a baby and my camera, so I stayed at the top of the hill and got the backs of their heads.

Overall we had a wonderful time.  Here are a few more pics.

 Meet Darth Vader in Huggies!

Arlo and his Uncle "Sex" (his name is Rex, Arlo cannot say Rex)

Cohen and his favorite cousin Eli, who was born a few weeks earlier.  What Studs!

I have to say that the only bad thing about the trip was that stupid winter storm.  It brought in such cold weather that we didn't get to go snowboarding.  Tim went once with his nephews and it was so cold that Jordan got freezer burn on his face and wrist.  Tim did not want to go again because it was so miserable. And if Tim did not want to go again, I was not going to argue... I hate being cold.

SO, for Valentines day, we are going snowboarding... I will post about that later!

Inconvienence

I went to transfer pictures from my camera to my computer...


But it will not let me...


The memory is full.

Christmas Overload

I don't want to overwhelm anyone but Christmas is such a wonderful time and I wanted to fit it all in,    in one post.  So here it goes....

Arlo is absolutely obsessed with Christmas lights.  I have no idea what he is going to do when they are all taken down.  To make Arlo happy, we went through the drive through Christmas Light Show, which he LOVED!  There is also a video while we were going through the show, and you can hear Arlo saying lights... pretty funny stuff.

I thought it was wonderful that at the light show they had a time line of Jesus' life here on this earth.  After all, that is what the season is all about.  I am so grateful for my Savior who lived on this earth as an example to me and who died so I can return and live with my Heavenly Father once again!  

This was our Christmas morning.  Well... part of it.  Arlo had a kitchen, train and chair set up on the other side of the room.

Here is the train...

the kitchen,

and the chair (that folds out into a couch with a sleeping bag).

He also received...

A bike helmet and seat (which you can't see)!  And I got a new fossil wallet with matching bags.

Electric play tools... that everybody enjoyed!

And Tim's favorite... Nerf Guns!

This toy took a few minutes to understand and learn... but once he got it... he loves taking it all over the house!

And for Cohen...

A brand new play mat!

And the boys both received Christmas PJ's!

Arlo was at the stage this year where he loved the lights, he loves to see snowman and santa everywhere he looked, he also does a great job of yelling ho! ho! ho!  At the same time he did not understand much of everything else.  I am going to be super excited next year when Arlo will be old enough to participate and understand more of our Christmas traditions and Cohen will be almost where Arlo was this year.

This year we spent Christmas here in good, old AZ.  And this was the 1st year in a while where we spent Christmas with my entire family.

This is my brother Bryce cuddling with Cohen on his new 'Super Sack'.

Bryce with my Mom.  And my mom with Darel or "PaPa" which is what Arlo calls his Grandpa.

Levie, my brother with his wife Megan and their son Lani.  And Niki, my sister with my Dad or Grampy.

Christmas is always wonderful when you get to spend it with Family as great as mine!

Here is a picture of my favorite present that I got for Christmas.  My big, boy Arlo going poop on the toilet for the very first time.  He was so proud of himself.  And then when he got off the toilet and had to flush his poop down the toilet he almost started crying because he wanted to stand there looking at it and clapping for himself.

These next pictures are just fun pictures that Tim created. Because we ran out of time and never got to see Santa this year. :-(

 

  These last pictures I want to warn you I am just bragging here.  For Christmas my mom and my husband got me five new pairs of shoes.  I was so spoiled and got many other things as well, but these made my Christmas!

So that just about sums up our Christmas!  I absolutely love Christmas.  It really is the BEST time of the year.  But when you have a family as great as mine, with two of the cutest and sweetest boys and a wonderful husband... I couldn't be happier!